A Comparative Study Of English Majors’ Reading Effects Between Hypertext And Traditional Printed Text In The Web-based Environment

With the rapid development of network and multimedia technology，the internet hasbecome an important channel for people to get information and acquire knowledge.Meanwhile, it has brought a revolutionary change in the way that people read: from printedtext to hypertext; from linear order to non-linear order; from traditional printed text reading tocomputer-based network reading. As a new reading model, hypertext reading has more andmore penetrated into people’s life and learning.Hypertext reading contains abundant hyperlinks, which is regarded as its most importantfeature. These hyperlinks in hypertext reading can provide a wealth of background knowledge,which can help students to improve their reading abilities. However, there is little domesticresearch on the reading effect of hypertext reading, much less research on the comparison ofreading effects between hypertext and traditional printed text. Furthermore, although most ofChinese university students are no strangers to English reading under the web-basedenvironment, faced with such a new reading model, what is the English majors’ currentsituation of hypertext reading?This paper mainly uses schema theory and cognitive flexibility theory as theoreticalframework for this study, aims to discuss the following three aspects: First, the comparison ofEnglish majors’ reading effects between hypertext and traditional printed text, and thecomparison of linking cultural background knowledge and linking new words in hypertextreading; Second, English majors’ attitudes towards hypertext reading; Third, the difficulties inEnglish majors’ hypertext reading. Both quantitative and qualitative research methods areadopted in this study,60freshmen English majors from Liaoning Normal University areselected as research subjects. This paper respectively uses a comparative test, a questionnaireand an interview to complete the study of above three aspects: the comparison of Englishmajors’ reading effects between hypertext and traditional printed texts, students’ attitudestowards hypertext reading, and the difficulties in students’ hypertext reading.The study results show that hyperlinks in hypertext reading can be beneficial to helpEnglish majors to improve their reading comprehension; English majors’ reading effect ofhypertext is superior to that of traditional printed text; compared with linking the explanationof new words, cultural background knowledge plays a bigger role in improving students’reading comprehension; most of English majors show their positive attitudes towardshypertext reading; there are some difficulties in English majors’ hypertext reading, such as uncomfortable physical responses, disorientation and unreasonable interfacial design, etc.